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Friday, August 23, 2013

On the Trail of Johnny Appleseed

This spot, with the historical markers and miniature log cabin,
marks the birthplace of Johnny "Appleseed" Chapman, in Leominister, Massachusetts

Every time I drive to my Mother’s house we drive down Route
13 through Leominster, Massachusetts.
Along the way we pass a “Welcome to Leominster” sign that says “Home of
Johnny Appleseed”, a Johnny Appleseed
school , Appleseed plaza, and lots of other references to the mythical
hero. But he was a real man, and his
actual name was John Chapman. He was my
2nd cousin, five generations removed. His
mother was Elizabeth Simonds, the niece of my 5th great grandfather,
Caleb Simonds (1720 – 1811).

One day last month when we were passing though Leominster I said to my husband, “Let’s find the
historical marker for his birthplace”.
Of course, it was located on Johnny Appleseed Lane, next to the Johnny
Appleseed State Park. It was easy to
find with an iPhone using Google and a mapping app, or GPS. The memorial was small and solemn, and easy
to drive past if you don’t go slowly and keep your eyes open on Johnny
Appleseed Lane. There is no space to park
and pay your respects, so we pulled over on the side of the road and took a few quick photos out the car window.

NEAR THIS SITE WAS BORN
JOHN CHAPMAN
KNOWN AS
JOHNNY APPLESEED
SEPTEMBER 26, 1774 MARCH 18, 1845
LEOMINSTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
1963

In a funny coincidence, my ancestor Caleb Simonds, mentioned
above, had a first cousin married to
Colonel Loammi Baldwin (1744 – 1807), who was a renaissance man - an
engineer, inventor, politician and an officer in the American Revolution. Loammi Baldwin has a statue in his hometown
of Woburn, Massachusetts, and is widely remembered as the cultivator of the
Baldwin apple among all his other acomplishments. He is the husband of my 2nd cousin six generations
removed. I wonder if Johnny “Appleseed” Chapman took
Baldwin apple seeds with him on his journey to the midwest?

This Johnny Appleseed statue is in the
Londonderry Leach Library, next to the Children's Room.
It was sculpted by Pat Verani of Londonderry.

Johnny Appleseed’s
genealogy:

Generation 1: John
Chapman, born 26 September 1774 in Leominster, Massachusetts, died on 18 March
1845 in Fort Wayne, Indiana; unmarried.

Generation 2: Johnny “Appleseed”’s
parents were Nathaniel Chapman, born 13 September 1746 in Tewksbury, Massachusetts,
died 18 February 1807 in Salem, Ohio; married as his first wife on 9 August 1769 in Leominster to Elizabeth
Simonds. She was born 2 July 1748 in
Ware, Massachusetts, died 18 July 1776 in Leominster.

Generation 3: James Simonds, born 10 March 1717 in Woburn,
Massachusetts, died in Leominster; married as his first wife on 12 May 1740 in
Woburn to Anna Lawrence, daughter of John Lawrence and Elizabeth Stone. They are my 5th great uncle and
aunt.

Generation 4: James Simonds, born 1 November 1686 in Woburn,
died 30 June 1775 in Woburn; married on 17 June 1714 in Woburn to Mary Fowle,
daughter of James Fowle and Mary Richardson.
She was born 18 June 1689 in Woburn, died 9 March 1762 in Woburn. They are my 6th great grandparents.

Generation 5: James Simonds, born 1 November 1658 in Woburn,
died 15 September 1717 in Woburn; married 29 December 1685 in Woburn to
Susannah Blodgett, daughter of Samuel Bloggett and Ruth Eggleton. She was born 17 February 1663 in Woburn, and
died 9 February 1715 in Woburn. My 7th
great grandparents

Generation 6: William Simonds, born about 1612 in
Winchester, Hampshire, England, died 7 June 1672 in Woburn; married on 18
January 1644 in Woburn to Judith Phippen.
She was born about 1619 and died 3 January 1690 in Woburn. My 8th great grandparents.

3 comments:

"....Johnny “Appleseed”’s parents were Nathaniel Chapman, born 13 September 1746 in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, died 18 February 1807 in Salem, Massachusetts;... "

Maybe because of the "Salem" this seems a bit mixed up, but if you look near Marietta, Ohio there is the (very) small town of Lower Salem; Nathaniel is in the Mound Cemetery not far away. I think the current-day address of Mound would be Marietta.

The "latter-day" (late 1800s) Allen County & Adams County Chapmans included my ancestors and my grandpa, whose father lived in Allen/Adams and spent much of his early life with Johnny Chapman's sister (a regular way-station for Johnny when he was in norther IN, it seemed), apparently had many "Johnny stories" as they were called in our family, to pass down--many of them were related to his "off" preaching and what they perceived as his strange eating habits. Generally the consensus when I was a kid listening to all them talk, was that he was a kook, about whom they were pretty much embarrassed. Interesting character, no doubt of that!Susan

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About Me

Author of the Nutfield Genealogy blog. My family research includes Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine, with a smattering of Nova Scotia. Please contact me if you see your ancestors on this blog. I would love to share information. I am the recording secretary of the New Hampshire Mayflower Society, President of the Londonderry Historical Society, member of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, the Mass. Society of Genealogists, The National Genealogical Society, and the New Hampshire Society of Genealogists.